This section provides background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the disclosure. It should be understood that the statements in this section of this document are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
It is known in the field of crop harvesting equipment to employ draper headers to cut crops for various purposes, such as feeding a combine harvester or swathing crop material. Such draper headers may comprise a cutter bar assembly for cutting the crop material, and a draper deck assembly for transporting the cut crop material to a desired location (e.g. the intake for a combine harvester). The draper deck assembly normally comprises two spaced-apart rollers for receiving a continuous loop of a draper belt, with a support plate fixed under the upper run of the draper belt and disposed between the rollers. In operation, the implement is driven into the standing crop, with the cutting edge assembly at the leading edge of the implement. After the cutting edge assembly cuts the crop material, the crop material falls and/or is moved rearwardly onto the generally horizontal draper deck assembly and then transported perpendicular to the direction of travel by the draper deck assembly and deposited either on the ground or at an intake for subsequent processing. Such an arrangement has many known benefits and has achieved wide acceptance and use.
It has been recognized that traditional cutter/draper arrangements as described above may encounter problems, which include maintaining continuous movement of the draper belt to avoid damaging the belt of other equipment. In some cases, draper header manufacturers install equipment to measure the speed of the driver and driven rollers. This approached is used to attempt to identify whether the draper belt has stalled or otherwise slowed, so the crop harvesting equipment may be stopped to avoid burning or otherwise damaging the draper belt. However, only monitoring the speeds of the rollers can be limited in practice, since in some cases, the draper belt may not be moving simultaneously with the rollers, or the draper belt may be mistracked on the rollers. In either case, over a long period, the draper belt may become damaged and require replacement. Such situations may lead to high warranty or unnecessary maintenance costs.
Thus, there is a need for improved systems for monitoring and identifying conditions of draper belt movement on a draper deck assembly and to better avoid draper belt mistracking and damage, such need met at least in part with embodiments according to this disclosure.